At present, a majority of aromatic compounds, such as catechol, are produced from petroleum as a raw material. From the viewpoint of the problem of depleted oil resources or reduction in the amount of carbon dioxide emissions, it is desired to develop a novel environment-conscious production process in which a biomass is used.
On the other hand, it has been found that 2-deoxy-scyllo-inosose (hereinafter referred to as DOI) can be converted to an industrially useful aromatic compound (e.g. catechol, etc.) (Non-Patent Document 1), and it has been reported that this DOI can be synthesized from glucose that is one constituent of biomass (Non-Patent Document 1). An enzyme that plays an important role in this process of producing DOI is a 2-deoxy-scyllo-inosose synthase (hereinafter referred to as a DOI synthase) for converting glucose-6-phosphate to DOI. Since the DOI is not only converted to the aforementioned aromatic compound but can also be an intermediate of various types of useful compounds, the DOI synthase has received a great deal of attention.
A DOI synthase has been isolated and purified from microorganisms belonging to Bacillus circulans that is a butirosin-producing bacterium in 1997 (Non-Patent Document 2), and the gene sequence thereof has been then published (Patent Document 1). Other than this DOI synthase, a DOI synthase derived from a Streptoalloteichus hindustanus JCM3268 strain (Non-Patent Document 3) and the like have been discovered so far.